Category: Who?

Supercategory to consolidate the family groups

Posted on

While Larry makes Martinis, Shannon makes Headlines

Larry, that’s not to say that I’m not impressed with your feat. Oh, and watch the thumb comments, eh? 🙂

Since Larry has already made his big headlines in the corporate world, I figure that I should start making mine if I want to retire and make martinis anytime soon! I don’t have the time to post the picture here… well, I’ll give it a shot. But anyway, check out the article in all it’s glory by visiting http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/10232005/business/69484.htm.

Okay, now for the picture thing… here goes nothing.

Yeah, I tried the picture thing and it didn’t work. Oh well, you’ll see it on the website. I hope all is well with everyone! (I fixed it for you – UL)

Shannon

Posted on

One for the Thumb


No – I’m not referring to another female, I’m talking about winning my fifth Mondo Martini contest at Tony’s Big Easy Bar and Bistro here in State College. My trophy is being held by UncleLar “niece” Ashley Schlosser on my right, “neice” Susan Kim is on my left – I don’t know the other two but how could I say no when they wanted to get in the photo too.

Tony has held this martini making contest for the past nine years and I’ve won it five of the last six (I sat out one year when I had tickets to a concert the same night but like Michael Jordan I came out of my semiretirement to capture another trophy).

My winning entry this year was called “The Rose Bowl” (I was kind of counting on the football team beating Michigan last weekend and keeping the Rose Bowl front and foremost in people’s minds but I was still able to sell the concept anyway). Here’s the recipe for those who are interested:

Mix the ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker (stir do not shake – shaking will create a froth while stirring will maintain a creamy appearance). Pour the ingredients into a brandy snifter that has been rinsed with Rosewater. Add a rose petal as a garnish.

Unfortunately, I was so dazzled by the crowd at the contest that I forgot to actually get a photo of the winning drink.

Tony really does a wonderful job of hosting the contest. Numerous liquor companies come in and provide samples of their wares to the crowd. Each companies display is created around an ice sculpture which makes for a quite beautiful arrangement. Some of the ice displays are actually functional in that you pour the liquor through a channel that has been drilled into the ice and it drains into the patrons glass quite chilled.

Here are some of the sculptures:

From left to right:

  • a complete bar made out of ice
  • an interactive ice display with a drink being pour down a channel
  • an ice man chilling some shrimp

My previous winning concoctions were

  • The Midas Touch (2000) – a drink that actually changed colors from greenish yellow to gold with the addition of the final ingredient, a splash of cranberry juice.
  • Rally Round the Flag (2001) – a blatant appeal to patriotism when I created a white creamy drink sprinkled with red and blue sugar crystals and topped by clipping a star shaped figure holding a flag onto the glass edge.
  • The Nittini Lion (2002) – a blue colored (what else?) cocktail loosely based on a cosmopolitan. The drink is made with an apple flavored liquor using Blue Curacao and apple juice in place of a typical cosmo’s triple sec and cranberry.
  • (2003) – didn’t enter, went to see Matchbox 20 concert.
  • The Krispy Kreme (2004) – a golden colored vanila martini that tastes like a donut (now I don’t know who would like to drink a donut but once I planted the seed in the judges minds that the drink was supposed to taste like a donut and it actually did, I had the contest locked up. Tony markets the drink as a donut without the carbs (see the menu below).

Posted on

First Posting

I don’t get on the pc often at home. Nick is on it a lot. Not much new other than not being able to get White Sox tickets was a bummer.

Chris and I went to ISU today to register him for his first semester (spring 2006). He is now an official Redbird. He will be studying to be a teacher in Physical Education. I understad ISU has a very good program.

Thanks to all of you who sent your thoughts to Mary on her dad’s passing. Mary is never on the computer so I have passed those on to her.

Too bad about Penn State. The boys and I watched the game. They really got into it. As soon as it was over I decided to keep it in perspective as Larry says he does. Who would have thought they would be 6-1! Larry, I have a $100.00 bet that Penn State wins more games then ND. I didn’t think either one would be as good as they seem.

When the game was over the boys and I starting looking forward to the White Sox game. We are big fans. Chris REALLY gets into the games. He is not pleasant to be around when they lose. Fortunately, not something we have worried about lately.

Well, that’s about it around here. I’m going up to watch the Cardinals and Astros. For tonight’s game we will root for the Cardinals. We really don’t care who wins. We just want both of these teams to wear themselves out before Saturday.

Posted on

Franco Harris and Mondo Martinis

I was downtown last night at Tony’s Big Easy Bar & Bistro preparing for the ninth Annual Mondo Martini Contest (yours truly, UncleLar is a four time undefeated champions of the event – FYI, it’s a martini making not martini drinking contest – more on Mondo Martini tomorrow after I win my fifth title tonight) when in walked Franco Harris along with Gary Gray, whom I have mentioned on this blog before. Gary and Franco were teammates on Penn State’s teams from 69-71.

Gary and Franco joined me and helped taste some of my creative work. Franco won four Super Bowls while with the Steelers and ever since then the Steelers have used the rallying cry “One for the Thumb” during their annual chase for another ring. I jokingly told Franco I was planning on getting my own “one for the thumb” tonight.

After perfecting my cocktail, Gary, Franco and I went over to the Gingerbread Man (or G-Man as it’s affectionately called here). It’s amazing to watch how much recognition Franco gets. He hasn’t played ball in twenty years yet he is still adored by many fans. There were bunches of college kids coming up to us using their cell phones to get their picture taken (admittedly they just shoved me out of the way but still I was still part of scene).

I have had some minor celebrity incidents here in State College (I’ll explain some time) but I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through that everyday like Franco. I even asked him if it bothered him and he very graciously said no, that the fans had always been good to him and he was glad that he could make them happy by obliging them with a photo. I thought that was a huge contrast to what we see in many athletes today.

Have to leave now but more tomorrow on my Mondo Martini (hopefully) winning entry.

Posted on

Praying Mantis


For the past 3 years we’ve been seeing a praying mantis in our backyard. I get quite a kick out of it. I don’t recall seeing any as a kid. The children really dig it, too. We found one yesterday and I took a few pix.

I also read a little about them. They live only a year, so we’ve apparently got a family in our yard. And they’re carnivorous. Here’s an article about a praying mantis that caught a hummingbird. A picture, too. Pretty cool.

BTW, I’m pretty impressed by the macro lens on my little camera. Charlotte said, “I never saw the eyes before.” Not sure I do, but I do see slits that could be eyes.

I really like the small opportunities our yard offers the kids to experience nature a bit. Lightning bugs are plentiful (tho Lis and I fight over calling them lightning bugs or fireflies). We have a pair of cardinals, some blue jays, a catbird or 4. Occasionally a flock of crows create havoc. We have a family of skunks nearby. I crossed paths with a baby skunk (8 ft away) while taking the garbage out recently. I ran like hell. Possum, raccoons, a family of bunny rabbits, dead moles that the kids bury. Bats, neat.

Just a bit of the mundane I thought ya’all might enjoy.

Posted on

Anybody paying attention?

It’s Friday night, the kids are watching Superman II, we’re waiting for pizza, and it’s raining for the 8th day in a row. Just remembered a picture I’ve been meaning to put up here in hopes of stimulating some conversation. Ron, you can contribute, too.

Posted on

more Fall sports news


Greetings. Here in Utah the soccer playoffs have begun. The Judge Memorial Bulldogs face a difficult task of returning to the State Championship game. Last year we were runner-ups to Park City (who are currently ranked number 12 in the country). We were State Champs in 2002 and 2003. Park City are the heavy favorites this year, they are led by a midfielder who is on the U-19 national team.

This year has been rougher than the last few. Three starters have gone down with season ending ACL injuries. Our second leading scorer broke her arm last week, and her doctor’s say she’s done for the year. Natalie has been plattooned at center mid, forward or outside mid…and it’s been difficult for her to win a starting spot despite the injuries. The head coach has started a youth movement, the freshman and sophomores are in many cases as good or better than the upper classmen. Last night Nats played about half the game…where her great passing skills were on display in our first round victory (5 to 1 over Millard). But this weekend we travel five hours to St. George for our quarterfinal matchup against an unbeated Dixie squad. Two more wins and we make it to the finals, which would mean a likely rematch with the hated Park City team.

We’ll keep you posted.

Posted on

Expecting Full Report

Well Larry, let’s hope you have something to write about after today’s game. No recurrance of whooping cough is keeping you away I hope.

Must be the biggest Nittany Lion game in what a decade??? Expecting midnight photos of you and partying nieces at the Tavern.

ARE THERE ANY WHITE SOX FANS OUT THERE?

Kenny

Posted on

Eric and Cross Country

As some of you know, Eric is running on his school’s cross country team. This is his second year on the team. Last year he went out for the team just so that he would be in better shape for his soccer club team, but he really ended up loving it.

This year has been a lot of fun again. Their first meet was at Fox River Grove, who were the state champions last year. Eric surprised everyone and won that race. He told us one of his goals for the year was to win a race, so he made it the first one. After that, he took several third places. At a big invitational meet, he took 15th out of over a hundred runners. The first 20 runners receive ribbons. No one at his school had ever qualified for a ribbon until Eric did it last year.

For a few weeks, Eric wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t do as well as normal at a few meets. Once he started feeling better, the coach told him to take it easy for one more race, just to be sure.

Another one of Eric’s goals is to qualify for the state tournament. Yesterday was the conference meet and he finished in 8th place with a 2 mile time of 12:33. That qualified him for sectionals which are Saturday morning. We figure he’ll have to finish somewhere in the top 25 or so to make it to state. The top 3 teams get to send 7 runners, and the next top 10 or so runners also qualify.

So we’ll see how he does and look for another posting on Saturday.